GIMP 2.99 for Ubuntu 23.10?

[Jeremy Bícha]

Hi,

I co-maintain the GNU Image Manipulation Program app (GIMP) in Debian.
After years of development, the upstream developers have announced
that they are on target for a Release Candidate of the new 3.0 version
by the end of 2023, although not necessarily in time for 23.10.

3.0 has a huge number of changes beyond switching from GTK2 to GTK3
including dark themes, partial CMYK support, etc. I would not expect
2.10.x plugins to continue to work since the plugin system has been
overhauled.

I think GIMP 3.0 or a Release Candidate would be appreciated in Ubuntu
24.04 LTS. Therefore, I propose that we switch to the latest beta
build 2.99.16 for Ubuntu 23.10 now. I am emailing this list because
the decision affects multiple Ubuntu desktop flavors since the app is
included by default in Edubuntu, Ubuntu Cinnamon, Ubuntu Studio, and
Xubuntu.

References
--------------
https://www.gimp.org/news/2023/06/29/wilber-week-2023/
https://www.gimp.org/news/2023/07/09/gimp-2-99-16-released/
https://developer.gimp.org/core/roadmap/#gimp-30-development-branch-roadmap
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/-/milestones/3

Thank you,
Jeremy Bícha